Charlotte - Pre-Release Discussion & Speculation

[Takafumi]

They are not a new start. Kudwaf is after Kud EX route and TA is after Tomoyo route, that’s why it’s called Tomoyo After

You’re missing the point. Whether you can add them as a direct continuation is irrelevant. It wouldn’t be of a high quality if you forced them together. From the moment you open up that VN, you realize that it is a new start. They may be continuations of a previously told story, but everything has a past. That doesn’t stop the existence of a start.

TA is after Tomoyo route, that’s why it’s called Tomoyo After, not Tomoyo New Before, duh.

Knock off the condescending text. If you want to be immature, I’ll just give up on you. I already said, in the text that you quoted, that TA fits with Tomoyo’s route.
It doesn’t fit with CLANNAD however. The VN as a whole is much different to just the Tomoyo route, and if you were to place Tomoyo After as a single arc after CLANNAD, you’d have to remove the rest of CLANNAD’s material, and then it wouldn’t be the CLANNAD anime, it’d be the “one route of CLANNAD and then TA” anime.
TA doesn’t fit with the rest of what CLANNAD is.

Are you saying TA has nothing about family, then?

I’ve said this before, but if you have to start a sentence with “Are you saying…” then don’t say it at all. All that chain of words accomplishes is putting words into others’ mouths.
Tomoyo After does have one short arc focusing on family, and not one that was explored in CLANNAD, but the other 3 arcs have different stories to tell.

Tell this to movie sequels’ writers.

Ahaha, movie sequels are not arcs. Arcs are part of a singular story, to separate one big chain of events to another. For example, the Devimon arc of Digimon Adventure, or the Kaiser arc of 02. Arcs help distinguish specific sections of a story. The show Code Geass made plentiful use of it to keep viewers on their toes and to keep events memorable. You have the better ones like the Euphemia arc or the Shirley arc, and then you have the lesser arcs like the Chinese federation arc.
A sequel is called a sequel because it is a separation as a continuation. It marks a moment of change - A fresh new beginning.
One marks a portion of a story, and the other marks the continuation of a story that once reached it’s end.

As for your question, do you mean the guys who want to cash in? They won’t listen to something they hear on the internet 24/7.

There are many successful sequels, you know?

Success does not equal quality.

Aincrad was an arc, Fairy Dance was an arc, but those things you’re referring they are mini-arcs. I think arc can be used in both senses, but all Aincrad mini-arcs were set in the Aincrad arc.

Aincrad was an arc, Fairy Dance too. The things I’m referring too, the episodes of Silica or Lisbeth, were part of the Progressive Arc, a separate book that was shoehorned into the anime adaptation of the Aincrad arc. Because of this, anime viewers think that the Aincrad arc was longer than it actually is, and for quite some time, Aincrad was the defining portion of the SAO anime, when for the majority of the SAO franchise, Aincrad is seen as something that everyone has moved away from or is moving away from.

The point is having a story that was meant to be able to add an arc on to the end of it, and having a story that ends are opposites. If a story is over, you cannot continue it, thus why Angel Beats! would never have gotten a second season.

Pinpon~~ Stories have closure. Angel Beats!’ ending was, despite what many may argue, closure. It signified the ending of what Angel Beats! set to explore.

And how many of these kinds of sequels are any good? I personally count zero.

To be fair, some writers and directors plan extra material out of passion, even if they don’t plan for anything beyond the first film. They have an idea of where the characters are going, or where they have already been.
Unfortunately they generally aren’t the people who get given a chance to make a sequel, largely because… that type of freedom only comes with original works… and they are rare.

Well, if there’s simply NO WAY to continue the story, I agree. Otherwise, no.

Even if there is a way, some things don’t need to be continued. This is how people ruin franchises.

[quote=“sillylittlemelody, post:505, topic:728”]
Maeda can change his mind. Do you think he had planned TA since he began planning CLANNAD? I don’t.[/quote]

No, and that is why it is a separate entity. You can tell it was never a part of CLANNAD.

There are lots of good sequels. The most recent example is Avengers 2.

Super Hero movies! Wow, how did that part of the film market survive?

Umm… you realize those are all based off comic books, right? Marvel has had all the movies they want to make planned out for awhile.

Don’t they have like… 10 or 20 years of movies charted out? I remember seeing that on reddit.

[Takafumi]

Okay, I’m going to create a situation here. Let’s suppose you are the writer of Sleeping Beauty. In the fairy tale, the prince fights the whole crap to save Aurora. But how did he learn that? You can then decide to write more of SB. Instead of the happily ever after, Aurora and the prince have a difficult journey ahead back home, where the prince fights and reveals his secret past.

Okay, yeah, this won’t go anywhere. You’d need to read TA to understand why adding it as an extra arc of the CLANNAD anime would require you to remove everything from the CLANNAD anime.

An arc is a storyline built around a single goal. There are minor goals in a story, so that’s why I call them mini-arcs.

I think you are confused as to what an arc is.

Take LB! as an example. Every route had a goal, its own plot, so they can be considered arcs. But the VN as a whole, including the routes, had one single major whole, or one arc.The routes are mini-arcs inside one big arc.

Incorrect. In Little Busters, every route is just a route, they are not arcs. Within each route are 2-3 arcs - An introductory conflict, and a penultimate conflict, are staples of every route. The VN as a whole isn’t one big arc… it’s just a story. You don’t have one big arc with other arcs inside it, you have arcs back-to-back.
I think you are mixing arcs up with the concept of an underlying story.

SAO ended its story in ALO basically, but there is Phantom Bullet, which isn’t ALL that related to Aincrad or Fairy Dance. But it doesn’t matter if you call it a sequel or an arc. The point is, why couldn’t the 2nd cour be what you call a sequel?

This is ignoring the point I brought up with SAO. The anime’s Aincrad arc was a mix of the book’s Aincrad and Progressive arcs. Combining the two in the anime made it messy and changed the focus of the original work, making it a bad adaption. It’s a good example of why adding one arc to another when they weren’t originally planned to be connected can ruin a story in the long term.
ALO and GGO have nothing to do with it.

[Doublethree1]

I always forget Anohana was only 11 episodes but yeah you’re right. That’s one of my favourite anime of all time and while I’d love more I’m perfectly fine with it being how it is and would only actually want more if there was a good enough reason for more.

[sillylittlemelody]

I have a theory regarding Misa: I don’t think she’s really what she seems to be. Maybe Yusa has some identity disorder or something, but I suspect Misa isn’t really her sister. Why?

Vocalist of the band “How-Low-Hello” and a teen idol of sorts, Yusa is understood to be a medium- Seemingly capable or channeling and/or conversing with the dead.

People told me those words were there just because she just “channels” her sister and she can’t control her abilities. But why just her sister? Maybe she needs to see the person dying or something… But it can also be that her powers aren’t real.

Something that strengthened my theory was the seiyuu. The same for the two sisters, even when they sound totally different from each other.

Now what would be the purpose of her powers being “false”? Actually, I think no one has “real” powers, like, naturally. Maybe they’re being tested by the government or something. So why none of the others had those words in the description? Probably because Yusa’s power is the most difficult to “really” happen.

This is just a theory I wanted to share with you guys.

[Bizkitdoh]

The only reason I’d used those words was because it was a rough translation and it was a cushion in the event that any of that information was wrong. I’m unsure as to whether that’s actually how it’s presented.

[sillylittlemelody]

Even so, don’t you think this whole “deceased sister” thing seems too out of place, considering Charlotte’s universe apparently doesn’t go much further into that? I mean, you don’t just put like a ghost in a story that has little to do with it. Yes, teenagers can develop powers, but Yusa’s ability depends also on other aspect of the series’ universe.

This is, unless Charlotte really shares some stuff with AB!, which I refuse to believe. The whole twitter and promo stuff could be just a marketing strategy imo.

[Bonecuss]

Isn’t it just easy to accept that in a world where magic exists, spirits exist too?

[sillylittlemelody]

Where did you see magic in Charlotte? I never did.

[Doublethree1]

Isn’t magic being in kind of a given? Everything Key’s done has some sort of magic or supernatural element. I’ve never been around for any other Key project when it launched but did Clannad or Little Busters! make it obvious there was magic? I’m pretty sure I read Little Busters! used the tagline “Do you want to know the secret of the world” which obviously involves supernatural stuff but that’s not obvious if you know nothing besides it’s in a school and that tagline.

[sillylittlemelody]

Everything Key’s done has some sort of magic or supernatural element.

From Kanon to CLANNAD, Key gave small hints of supernatural stuff in the beginning/common route. But in LB!, they gave barely no hints, but the supernatural was still there. Okay, now in AB!, they changed it completely: the supernatural was already established since the beginning, which is also Charlotte’s case.

But how’s it different? From Kanon to LB!, Key didn’t establish the supernatural from the beginning, and Key didn’t really worry about “explaining” how it works, because it was better like this. But as we can see in Charlotte, they are likely going to explain a good portion of it. When there was no worry in explaining the supernatural, then things like this wouldn’t feel out of place exactly. But when Charlotte, built around a supernatural idea from the beginning, and explaining it, another supernatural element that has nothing to do with the “main” one doesn’t feel natural. It would be acceptable if it was a minor character, or just an episode that featured it, but as Yusa is a main character and as she carries this element along all the way it sure needed more in-depth. But that in-depth would feel out of place as Charlotte already has a supernatural main focus.

[Aspirety]

She has the same voice because she uses the same vocal chords.

Honestly I don’t believe there’s any reason to doubt Yusa’s power. Everyone in the school has different powers; being a spirit medium is hers. Unless there’s any evidence to the contrary, I think we can accept that the description of her character we’ve been given is accurate.

[Pepe]

People told me those words were there just because she just “channels” her sister and she can’t control her abilities. But why just her sister? Maybe she needs to see the person dying or something… But it can also be that her powers aren’t real.

Actually the real reason behind this wording is that everyone’s powers just simply aren’t what they seem to be at first place. Joujirou, for example, seemingly has teleportation powers, but is actually only able to run really fast. Which is why, even in the original Japanese text, they described her power as “channeling the dead” but, in reality, it could be something that obtains the similar effect, but is not actually the same thing. Hence the unsure wording

You do have a point with the “she needs to see the person dying or something”, and it’s something we can’t confirm for now.

But saying their powers are fake, well, hmm. We don’t know how the powers activate yet, but I’m pretty confident in saying that it’d take some sort of special power to suddenly change your eye color and general appearance. Whether or not it’s channeling the dead, it’s definitely some sort of power, IMO.

So why none of the others had those words in the description?

This one is because Jun Maeda specifically said what the true nature of the power of others are. Perhaps there is some sort of “true nature” behind Yusa’s power that we have yet to see, and it’d be interesting if that were so.

Where did you see magic in Charlotte? I never did.

Pretty sure having abilities that not many other people can do is “magic” in one way or another

It’s definitely an interesting point. I’ve double checked the charlotte-anime website, and it clearly says “口寄せ” which translates as “Necromancy”. But Joujirou’s also says “Teleportation” but with a “(High speed movement)” clarification in it.

So as a whole response to your theory and your succeeding replies, I think that there isn’t enough reason yet to say that Yusa’s power is fake; i.e. that it is a facade she is putting up. She is taken over by her sister, in one way or another. But I think there is still room for doubt about the true nature of her powers. Is Misa’s soul coming from the underworld in order to possess her? Or is Misa’s memories just subconsciously taking over? Or is there some other reason that it is only Misa she can summon?

That’s open to discussion!

[sillylittlemelody]

Pretty sure having abilities that not many other people can do is “magic” in one way or another

Hm… That depends on the circumstances. Magic is “manipulation of the forces of nature”, but we can’t know if those powers are related to “natural” phenomena.

But that doesn’t matter. You got my point. Fake or not, I only think it doesn’t make sense if Yusa’s powers are exactly what they are said to be or without further explanation of the true nature of her powers.

[Kanon]

It’s a fantasy world who cares what the rules of magic and spirits of the dead are.

[Pepe]

Magic is “manipulation of the forces of nature”

I consider being able to do something that is biologically impossible for human beings to do as “magic”. In that case, maybe it doesn’t fit your definition of magic.

[sillylittlemelody]

It’s a fantasy world who cares what the rules of magic and spirits of the dead are.

I wouldn’t care, but apparently Maeda does in Charlotte’s case. So if he explains one thing, he needs to explain the other.

[Aspirety]

Are you really arguing over the definition of magic? It’s a wildcard term that can be used for just about anything in the fantasy/supernatural genre.

[NotKyon]

I like your theory, @sillylittlemelody.

Although in the case of the definition of magic: “The power of apparently influencing the course of events by using mysterious or supernatural forces.” Is the definition I see.

Now as far as having a lack of evidence goes… I think this is fine. The need for evidence is precluded by the word “Speculation” in this topic’s title. Your theory didn’t appear to violate anything that we do know at the very least.

I really need to catch up on the known information for Charlotte though.

[minatahatsune]

We have a new scan from Dengeki G’s latest issue: https://yande.re/post/show/321900
So cool, in my opinion.

[Aspirety]

Oh wow, awesome! :o